Terarchy Chronicles: Week 12 - Strategic Pivot to Manufacturing and Future Expansion Plans

Terarchy Chronicles: Week 12 Edition – What’s Next for Terarchy?

Nigeria's Manufacturing Industry

Welcome to the 12th-week edition of the Terarchy Chronicles! As we stand at the cusp of an exciting new chapter, this edition, titled What’s Next for Terarchy?, unveils our upcoming features, strategic partnerships, and bold expansion plans. Our mission remains steadfast: to revolutionize supply chain financing across Africa, empowering businesses with immediate liquidity through blockchain-based invoice tokenization. This week, we’re thrilled to share a pivotal shift in our journey—Terarchy is now piloting its Minimum Viable Product (MVP) in Nigeria’s manufacturing sector, moving away from our initial focus on agriculture. Why the pivot? The manufacturing sector, particularly food and beverage, boasts the highest volume of invoices in its supply chain financing, offering a ripe opportunity for Terarchy to make a transformative impact. Buckle up as we dive into what’s ahead, keeping you engaged and excited for the future!

A Strategic Pivot: From Agriculture to Manufacturing

Since our inception in 2024, Terarchy has targeted Nigeria’s agricultural sector, onboarding 50 suppliers and forging promising talks with ThriveAgric to tap into their network of over 800,000 farmers. Agriculture, with its seasonal invoicing and cash flow challenges, seemed a natural fit for our Hyperledger Fabric-powered platform, which turns invoices into digital assets for instant cash. However, after deep market analysis and stakeholder consultations, we’ve identified a more dynamic opportunity: Nigeria’s manufacturing sector.

Why manufacturing? This sector, contributing approximately 13% to Nigeria’s GDP (around $55 billion annually), thrives on a high volume of transactions, especially in food and beverage giants like Nigerian Breweries and Nestlé Nigeria. Unlike agriculture, where 70% of smallholder farmers operate on cash-and-carry, manufacturing features formalized supply chains with frequent invoicing—raw material suppliers to manufacturers, manufacturers to distributors, and distributors to retailers. The food and beverage subsector alone generates thousands of invoices monthly, driven by urban demand and continuous production cycles. This invoice intensity makes manufacturing the ideal proving ground for Terarchy’s MVP, allowing us to scale our impact faster and address a broader swath of SMEs facing similar cash flow woes.

Our pivot doesn’t abandon agriculture—it refines our roadmap. Lessons from our agricultural pilot (e.g., onboarding 50 suppliers in two months) equip us to tackle manufacturing’s complexities, ensuring a seamless transition. By Q2 2025, we aim to onboard 100 manufacturing suppliers, setting the stage for exponential growth.

Upcoming Features: Enhancing the Terarchy Platform

As we gear up for our manufacturing pilot, we’re rolling out new features to enhance user experience and maximize value. Here’s what’s in store:

1. Offline-Capable Tokenization
   Recognizing Nigeria’s patchy internet infrastructure, we will be developing an offline-capable feature using USSD integration. Manufacturers or suppliers in remote areas can tokenize invoices via basic mobile phones, receiving funds once connectivity resumes. This ensures inclusivity, bridging digital divides that banks can’t.

2. Real-Time Invoice Tracking Dashboard
   Transparency is key. We will also be building a dashboard that lets users monitor invoice status, tokenization progress, and payment timelines in real time. For a manufacturer awaiting NGN 5 million from a distributor, this means full visibility—no more guessing games.

3. Smart Analytics for Financiers
   Financiers buying tokenized invoices will gain access to smart analytics—risk scores, repayment histories, and sector trends—powered by blockchain data. This reduces investment risk and attracts more capital to the platform, fueling liquidity.

4. Multi-Currency Support
   With an eye on regional expansion, we’re adding multi-currency support (e.g., NGN, USD, CFA franc). This prepares us for cross-border supply chains, a growing trend in manufacturing as Nigeria leverages the African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA).

These features, set to launch by mid-2025, reflect user feedback from our agricultural pilot and aim to make Terarchy indispensable to manufacturers. Imagine a Lagos brewery tokenizing an NGN 10 million invoice offline, tracking it live, and reinvesting funds within hours—that’s the future we’re building.

Strategic Partnerships: Powering Growth

Economic Growth in Nigeria

Partnerships are the lifeblood of Terarchy’s expansion, and we’re forging alliances to amplify our reach and impact in manufacturing:

1. ThriveAgric Collaboration Evolves
   While our ThriveAgric talks initially focused on farmers, we’re pivoting to leverage their expertise in food supply chains. ThriveAgric’s network includes manufacturers buying from their farmers—think cocoa suppliers to Nestlé. By Q3 2025, we aim to integrate Terarchy into their platform, financing manufacturer invoices tied to ThriveAgric’s ecosystem, potentially unlocking NGN 1 billion in transactions monthly.

2. Negotiations with MAN (Manufacturers Association of Nigeria)
   We will soon start talks with MAN, representing over 2,000 manufacturers, to pilot Terarchy with their members. A successful pilot with 50 MAN firms could yield NGN 500 million in financed invoices, proving our model at scale. MAN’s advocacy for SME financing aligns with our mission, making this a natural fit.

3. Banking Sector Tie-Ups
   Unlike replacing banks, we’re complementing them. We will be discussing with Access Bank and Zenith Bank to position Terarchy as a post-production financing arm, distinct from their input loans. Banks could fund tokenized invoices, earning returns while we handle the tech, targeting an NGN 200 million pilot by Q4 2025.

4. Tech Partnerships for Scale
   We’re exploring collaborations with fintechs like Flutterwave to streamline payments and with IBM to enhance Hyperledger Fabric’s capabilities. These tech tie-ups, expected to solidify by late 2025, will boost transaction speed and security, critical for manufacturing’s high-volume invoicing.

These partnerships position Terarchy as a collaborative player, enhancing—not disrupting—Nigeria’s financial ecosystem while driving manufacturing growth.

Plans for Expansion: Beyond Nigeria’s Borders

Economic Expansion in Africa

Our manufacturing pilot is just the beginning. Here’s our expansion roadmap:

1. Nigeria Scale-Up (2025)
   Post-pilot, we aim to onboard 500 manufacturers by year-end, facilitating NGN 2 billion ($4.8 million) in monthly financing, generating $96,000 in fees at 2%. Food and beverage will anchor this, with cement (e.g., Dangote) and textiles as secondary targets. Lagos, Kano, and Ogun—manufacturing hubs—will be our focus.

2. West Africa Entry (2026)
   By Q2 2026, we’ll expand to Ghana and Côte d’Ivoire, leveraging their robust manufacturing sectors (e.g., Ghana’s food processing and Côte d’Ivoire’s cocoa industry). Multi-currency support and AfCFTA integration will ease this transition, targeting 1,000 regional suppliers and NGN 5 billion in financing.

3. Construction Synergy (2026-2027)
   After manufacturing success, we’ll enter construction, applying the lessons learned. Nigeria’s $15 billion construction sector, with its milestone-based invoicing, complements manufacturing’s continuous flow, diversifying our portfolio.

Our vision? By 2027, Terarchy aims to finance $1 billion annually across Africa’s supply chains, starting with manufacturing as our springboard.

Why This Matters: Terarchy’s Impact

Switching to manufacturing isn’t just strategic—it’s transformative. Nigeria’s manufacturers face payment delays (30-60 days), high bank loan costs (10-20%), and limited SME access, per IFC (International Finance Corporation) reports. Terarchy’s solution—fast, low-cost, collateral-free financing—unlocks growth. A brewery reinvesting NGN 4.5 million from a tokenized invoice could hire more staff or upgrade equipment, boosting output by 15-20%. Across 500 firms, this could add millions to GDP, create jobs, and stabilize supply chains—all while earning Terarchy sustainable revenue.

Challenges Ahead and How We’ll Tackle Them

Pivoting brings challenges:

• User Adoption: Manufacturers may resist blockchain. We’ll launch workshops with MAN and demo pilots (e.g., a brewery cutting costs by 10%) to build trust.

• Regulatory Compliance: Nigeria’s SEC oversees digital assets. We’re submitting for approval, ensuring legal footing by Q2 2025.

• Infrastructure: Spotty internet persists. Our offline feature mitigates this, with Flutterwave aiding payments.

Our agricultural experience—overcoming similar hurdles—equips us to succeed.

A Call to Our Community

What’s next for Terarchy? It’s not just about us—it’s about you, our readers, partners, and future users. We’re excited to pilot in manufacturing, but we need your input. Which features matter most? What partnerships should we chase? Share your thoughts as we shape Africa’s supply chain future together.

Looking Ahead: A Bright Future

As we close this 12th-week edition, Terarchy stands at a thrilling juncture. Our manufacturing pivot, powered by new features, partnerships, and expansion plans, promises to redefine supply chain finance. From Lagos breweries to Ghanaian factories, we’re building a platform that empowers SMEs, drives economic growth, and proves blockchain’s potential. Stay tuned—Terarchy’s best is yet to come!